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Policies

Below are the Scene's policies related to ownership, conflicts of interest, A.I. and commenting.
 
Distinction of Editorial, Advertising and Ownership
 
The Nashville Scene is published by Freeman Webb Publishing, which is owned by real estate company Freeman Webb. The current owner of Freeman Webb is Bob Freeman, currently a sitting state representative.
 
The Scene maintains editorial independence from our company’s advertising department, which sells ad space to local businesses. Buying an advertisement does not guarantee nor influence coverage of any sort. Certain special issues may be underwritten by advertisers, but these are rare and do not influence the direction of reporting or criticism within the paper. The Scene also maintains editorial independence from Freeman Webb; when instances arise that cover the real estate company or its ownership, we will always disclose the relationship.
 
The editorial content of the Scene stems from the efforts of a team of editors, staff writers and a roster of freelancers. It is not produced by generative artificial intelligence tools and not directed by sales or ownership.
 
 
Gifts and Conflicts of Interest
 
Promotional materials and review copies of media sent to the Scene do not guarantee or influence coverage. Please refrain from sending gifts to reporters to solicit coverage or thank them for their reporting on you or your client.
 
The Scene discourages staff from making donations to political campaigns they are covering or to philanthropies or charitable causes that could lead to conflicts of interest.
 
Staff is advised to use discretion and consult our editor-in-chief when invited to speaking engagements and when accepting fees and honoraria to avoid conflicts of interest.
 
 

 

The Nashville Scene’s A.I. Policy

The Nashville Scene is an independent, local, human-powered news organization. Any time we use artificial intelligence — and we do so in a very selective, limited capacity — we employ our staff of editors and writers for oversight and review. If and when A.I. is used in the reporting of one of our stories, such as sorting through large amounts of data uncovered by FOIA requests, we will review that work and disclose its use. We will also disclose if and when A.I. is used in creation of images accompanying our work.

Here are some examples of where and how we have used A.I.:

  • Interview transcription. Our reporters often use Otter.ai, a transcription software company that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to complete speech-to-text transcription. Our editors and reporters — every time Otter is used — double-check and confirm Otter’s work.
  • Autogenerated captions. Our editors often use A.I.-powered autogenerated captions for videos we post to social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok. We always double-check and proofread those captions.
  • Suggested copy for marketing content. Our marketing and events department sometimes works with A.I.-suggested captions for promotional content. These captions, created primarily using ChatGPT, are always rewritten and proofread before being posted on any of the Scene’s social media platforms.
  • Generative A.I. for occasional imagery usage. Our art director and designers may use generative A.I. for conceptual, illustrative and abstract graphics and illustrations. We do not use images that could reasonably be mistaken as photographs, or photorealistic depictions of people, places or events in editorial content. If and when A.I. is used in the creation of imagery, we will acknowledge its use, credit the designer who created the prompt and name the tool used.

 

 

Comment Policy

The Nashville Scene reserves the right to remove any comments from our site or various social media platforms at any time. Comments featuring hate speech or otherwise threatening or violent content will be deleted. To report a comment you think violates our terms, email editor@nashvillescene.com.